As told to me tonight by a haunt actor in his now 5th season.
He was dressed as a clown, pretending not to be a real person and not wishing to break character, he took a solid punch into his masked face, but began bleeding.
So he meanaced the puncher , who collapsed on the floor in a ball begging for forgiveness!
Mr. clown said something like:"I was told I couldn't punch back or touch you, so I won't."
Then he lifted his mask and alot of nose blood ran out, landing all over the cringing puncher/customer.
He also got kicked where it Really hurts by a girl.
Poor vision out of that mask and being too close to the customers were to blame.

Poor vision out of that mask and being too close to the customers were to blame.

You're absolutely correct Jim.

I tell all my actors, "If you get punched/slapped, you were too close".

This past Friday was a full moon and it seemed like it too. My actor hadn't been punched all spring/summer then gets punched once and slapped later in the same day. With the customer that threw the punch intentionally (not a reaction to fear), we stopped the ride and escorted him out of the ride. I explained to him the rules as stated to him when boarding the car at the entrance and told him we have no tolerance for acts like this. Then I told him he was very lucky my actor didn't punch back as a normal reaction to being punched. But my actor stayed cool and heeded the rules of an actor. The girl slapped out of reaction.

But both times could have been avoided. If an actor gets punched/slapped, then yes, that person got in the customers personal space, which is the risk we all take in delivering the fear. You could almost call it a game of Hockey at times

Bryce, my actor has been with me since 2006 and is very effective, which increases the odds of getting smacked eventually. But then again, you just can't stand 10 feet away and say "Boo".

In case you don't know, my haunt is known for it's "in your face" style. I have always told my actors that if you are not getting punched or kicked, you must not be doing your job. LOL! Different strokes for different folks!

I agree with Howie, the haunt i run is also very in your face status. However i dont tell my acotrs that if their not getting punched then they arent doing there job because they might take it literally and get a little TO in your face. I mean usually you can tell which person will react violently, thats why actors have to keep a cool head most of the time. But then again there is always like a little girl that can really pack a punch ((or a kick to the nuts)).

We've had a few attacks on our actors. Word travels fast through them on any approaching drunkards via telephone (the kids game, not an actual phone), which is a good enough system. We get warned, we keep our distance. On rare occasions there will be a person that gets scared too much and has a somewhat violent knee jerk reaction. It's nothing we analyze too much, they didn't really mean harm and those punches and slaps aren't very powerful when they're not intentional.

But sometimes people don't need to be boozed up to act like complete feebs. I recall one night, an actor was in a cell with her head and hands drooped out of a gap between the bars (as if she were in ye ol' stocks). All of the sudden some dolt walks by, talks to his fellow chaps and questions weither or not our actor was a prop. He decides to find out for sure by kicking our poor actor in the head.

We can't really watch out for those kinds of people because there's not much of a red flag to spot. But when we do find them strolling about, hitting actors, we're more than ready to escort them out...and over to the police.

Jesus, was she ok? Something like that happened to one of my actors, infact he was pretty high up to. How the drunk kicked him in the head i wouldnt know, but he cracked his head and he had to go get stiches and it was big drama.

No damage to report, not in any physical sense. It really (pardon the expression) kicked her spirits down a peg for the rest of the night. Can't blame her, I'd be upset too. But she was a real trooper about it and went back to acting soon after.

Very cool. That reminds me of a time when this fellow came in punched one of our actors ((not out of reflex)). And when we asked him to leave he pulled out a gun. It was pretty tense, but yeah it was resolved with out to much problem.
But yeah there are some real jerks out there.

Exactly, then all we would have to worry about is an accidental discharge or something silly like that. Hahaha but thats only a little thing, and yes it was quiet serious. But another actor who was in the same scene, or room when he pulled out the gun tackled him from behind and wrested the gun from his grip, it was all very herioc hahahaha. But yeah if it wasnt for that lone actor bad things probably would have happened that night.